Hood River Waterfront Park is the six-acre city park on the Columbia River at the north end of Portway Avenue, and its swim cove is the easiest place in town to get in the river. The cove is man made, a scoop of sandy beach on the park's east side walled off from the main channel so that the current and the boat wakes stay outside while the water inside is shallow and calm enough for small kids. It is not lifeguarded. Grass runs right down to the sand, so there is room to set up for the day, and the rest of the park spreads out behind it: a play area built around a 10-foot climbing wall, picnic shelters, viewing platforms over the water, a great lawn and a small amphitheater used for summer concerts.

The park exists because the Port of Hood River gave the land to the city in 2006 and the community raised about $3.2 million for the first phase, which opened a few years later. It sits in the middle of the Hood River waterfront that the port has rebuilt over the last two decades: the Hook, a sheltered lagoon for beginner windsurfers and paddlers, is just west; the Event Site, the main kiteboard and windsurf launch, is next to that; and the Waterfront Trail connects it all to the marina and the Hood River Bridge.

Hours are 8 a.m. to sunset. Dogs are allowed on leash in the park but not on the beach from May 15 through September 15. Parking is Port of Hood River paid parking, $2.75 an hour between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. with a $15 daily cap, paid by app or at the kiosks; the lots along Portway fill on hot weekends, and the swim cove is a short walk from the free spaces downtown if you would rather cross under the freeway on foot.

The Columbia here is the Bonneville pool, so the water level is steady, but it is still a big river with cold water in early summer; by August it is comfortable. Columbia Riverkeeper samples E. coli at the Hood River waterfront beaches weekly in summer and posts results to Swim Guide, and the cove has tested clean in most weeks. Non-motorized boats launch from the beach and from the Hook, and the afternoon west wind that makes Hood River a kiteboarding capital also makes the cove a good place to watch from.

Hood River sits an hour east of Portland on I-84, and the waterfront is the flat part of a town built on a hill. Downtown breweries and restaurants are a five-minute walk uphill from the park.